Meet the Smash Contenders - Part 1 Groups A&B

This is part 1 of a 2-part series featuring the lives of our yearly Smash invitational players. Our yearly 16-player tournament featuring over $600 in cash & prizes and a grand prize regional sponsorship will be broadcast live this Saturday October 1st at 2pm on twitch.tv/lanmob

It's time! 52 long weeks of Smash are culminating this weekend in the LML Yearly event. 16 players have qualified for a shot at earning a regional sponsorship to three northeast majors over the course of the next year. We've waited a long time for this moment to arrive and we're excited to bring it to you live this Saturday.

If you've attended or followed along you may have gotten to know some of our regulars, but we'd like to take you behind the scenes to really get to know the players lives when they don't have a Smash controller in their hands.

Group A - Draxsel | Figy | dbot | Spydude43

Draxsel out of Syracuse, NY is currently studying IT / End User Computing at Morrisville State College, where he also tutors psychology, computing, and English part-time. In his free time he's an avid reader, currently reading the Wheel of Time series. He also enjoys hacky sack and playing guitar. He considers the games Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro to be his top five games.

Draxsel's introduction to Smash was on Nintendo 64. He recently traveled to his first major at Pound 2016 in McLean, VA where he placed 49th out of 550 in SSB4 and was able to meet some of the top Smash players in the world.

Figy out of Whitesboro, NY is currently studying at SUNY Oswego. He recently attended EVO 2016 in Las Vegas where he did his best HungryBox impersonation, check it out below!

dbot out of Rome, NY was our week 2 winner and has continued to participate throughout the last year.

Spydude43 out of Verona, NY is officially our youngest contestant. Currently in his senior year at VVS high school, he has plans to attend college locally majoring in engineering. He joined the LAN Mob team in late 2015 and has been working behind the scenes every week clipping Twitch highlights and sending the best to our YouTube channel.

Spydude enjoys the MMO Guild Wars 2, and can be found playing the occasional match of League of Legends. He's also present owner to Gannon the dog, destroyer of worlds and LAN Mob celebrity canine.

Group B - Grey, Utahlol, ZeroGoukiX, KamakaziFrost

Grey out of Syracuse, NY is an avid RPG gamer and Bowser lover. Favoring the heavier, harder hitting side of the cast, Grey's patient play will be a terror in this group.

Utahlol out of New Hartford, NY is a 2012 graduate of St. Elizabeth's College of Nursing, and now works in the field pediatric care. Originating from the state of Utah, his brother encouraged him to come to CNY to live and work. His first exposure to Smash came with Nintendo 64 and he regularly plays online matches through Anther's Ladder. Utah has also spent extensive time in World of Warcraft as a high level PVP competitor. He recently moved into a new home with his fiance and looks forward to starting a family together.

ZeroGoukiX out of New Hartford, NY has a degree in Digital Media/3D Animation and also works in the hospital industry. His gaming career started with Super Mario Brothers at the age of 5, graduating on to Street Fighter II where he found his competitive niche in fighting games. Zero has attended two majors for Street Fighter IV this year, and is planning a trip to compete at next year's EVO in Las Vegas.

KamakaziFrost out of Rome, NY is currently studying engineering and a jack of all trades, enjoying music, video games, hiking, art, and tattoos. Week 1 winner and a regular in our LML chat room, you can find him on Twitch at twitch.tv/kamakazifrost where he plays a variety of games including League of Legends, Overwatch, and numerous retro games.